HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Junior Casey Baker, fresh off of a 13-point, six-steal game Wednesday against Kentucky State, backed that up with a 17-point, five-steal performance on Sunday to lead the Thundering Herd women's basketball team to an 82-35 exhibition win over West Virginia Wesleyan at the Cam Henderson Center.

Marshall was dominant throughout the game, outscoring the Bobcats 42-21 in the first half and 40-14 in the second period. The Herd had solid efforts on both sides of the ball, shooting 47 percent from the field while holding Wesleyan to 26.7 percent, including 20 percent (5-25) in the second half.

"I thought our team really started buying into what we were doing," Marshall head coach Royce Chadwick said. "I thought it was a much better team effort and team win than the first game."

"I felt like our team played much better together."

Marshall had four players scoring double-digits. Baker led the Herd with 17 points, followed by 12 from Kizzy Hart and Tynikki Crook. Crook, who also had 11 rebounds, notched her second double-double in as many games. Hart knocked down three shots beyond the arc to lead all scorers in that category. Senior Meagan Samis was a perfect 5-5 from the field, finishing with ten points.

The Herd was relentless on the defensive end, forcing the Bobcats into 33 turnovers, including 19 steals. Baker led all players with five while junior Meg Withrow tallied four of her own. The offense took full advantage of the WVWC mistakes, turning the 33 turnovers into 42 points.

Another category in which the Herd showed full dominance was in the paint, outscoring the Bobcats 46-14.

Sarah Van Horn, who scored a game-high 20 points in last season's exhibition match at Marshall, once again led all scorers with 19. Van Horn also had nine boards to lead Wesleyan.

The Herd showed a definite improvement against the Bobcats on Sunday and Coach Chadwick was proud of the effort. "I'm pretty happy with the way they played together," Chadwick commented. "We're a lot more electric this year than we were last season, this is a whole new situation, I think the more we play, the better we'll get."

Friday will mark the regular season opener as the Herd will travel to Evansville to face the Purple Aces on Friday night at 7 p.m. It will mark the first round of the Preseason WNIT, the first trip to the prestigious tournament in program history.